Out of Place
by hiddeninthedarknessofdaylight
Summary: The USS Enterprise was only for the best. She'd gotten assigned there, hadn't she? So why did she suddenly feel like she was way out of her league?
1. Aboard the Enterprise

Caitlyn Johnson attempted to steady her erratic breathing patterns as she watched the gigantic form of the _USS Enterprise_ dominate her view from the small window she was sitting next to. Her hands gripped the armrests of her seat until her knuckles were white with the effort. The seatbelt strapped across her waist suddenly seemed too loose.

The idea of being sucked out into space didn't worry her. She wasn't afraid of the unknown. On the contrary, it was her curiosity and somewhat uncontrollable desire to explore the reaches of the universe that had literally driven her to join Starfleet. She loved her job. She just wished that she could be more confident in what she was doing. After all, only the top Cadets in her class, including herself, had been assigned to the _Enterprise_.

As the small shuttlecraft, filled to the brim with red-clad Starfleet Academy Cadets, docked with the imposing space station where the larger starships were also docked, a female voice announced directions over the intercom. Cate barely listened. She'd heard the instructions before they'd left the ground. In any case, her attention was still fixed on her assignment.

She filed out of the shuttle along with the other cadets, but made her way to the _Enterprise_ alone. Cate almost preferred it that way, but even after her four years in the Academy the awestruck stares and dirty looks from across the hallways still made her want to run away and hide. It was hard to be alone.

Frustrated with herself for allowing her mind to drift over her lack of a social life, she returned her focus to her assignment. She kept her eyes forward and her chin held high as she waited in line to be beamed aboard the starship, observing her surroundings with the detached calm attitude she'd perfected while at the Academy and ignoring the whispers of the few other cadets in the area. At last, she allowed herself to relax as she stepped onto the illuminated platform of the teleporter and felt herself being systematically deconstructed and reconstructed at the same time as the machine did its job.

The change in light as she arrived to her assignment was dazzling, and it took Cate a few moments to re-orient herself and remember where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. Calmly asking permission to come aboard, she stepped off the platform and was directed to the engineering deck. As she made her way down the corridor to the elevator, she attempted to remember everything she'd learned about the _Enterprise_ – a difficult task considering how many files and technical manuals she'd read over the years. Yet, nothing relevant seemed to come to her mind now that she was actually there.

With hands shaking in anticipation and nervousness, she pressed the button to close the doors. "Main Engineering," she directed, almost surprised when she began moving. She tried to imagine where she was in the ship, but without luck. Nerves were beginning to get the better of her.

It took the comforting hum of machinery and the lively bustle of the crew to bring her back to herself. She drew herself up to her full height and exited the elevator in time to hear the frustrated voice of James T. Kirk over the intercom.

"Mr. Scott, status report."

"If you're askin' about why you don't have visual on the bridge, sir, we're workin' on it just as fast as we can, Cap'n." A distinctly Scottish voice answered from not far away from where Cate was standing. She started looking for its source as soon as it reached her ears.

"Thank you, Scotty. Just checking." The frustration in the captain's voice had eased slightly, but it was obvious that he was trying overly hard to keep himself under control.

It didn't take Cate long to locate the very busy Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. It did, however, take a while to get his attention with the way he was running around trying to find out what the problem was.

Irritated with the situation, she moved over to the nearest computer screen when Mr. Scott stopped for a moment to talk to one of his engineers. She pulled up the specs on the electrical connections to the Bridge and diagnosed the problem, then made her way to one of the main control panels closest to where she had been standing and got to work.

--- --- ---

Scotty was racking his brain for a solution to the problem on the Bridge when he noticed one of his cadets messing around with a control panel. He quickly made his way over to where she was working, curiously looking over her shoulder. She didn't respond to his presence, so he assumed she was extremely focused on what she was doing. He could have chuckled to himself over how seriously cadets took themselves these days. Seriously, the Academy should teach them how to laugh in addition to all the discipline. A starship was no place for an ego – at least, not for an ego any bigger than his own.

"Whatcha doin' there, Cadet?" he inquired, half-hoping to surprise her into noticing him.

She remained collected and calm as she answered. "It occurred to me, sir, that I would not be able to report for duty as long as the visual display on the Bridge was not functioning properly. So I decided to fix it, sir."

He paused, eyebrows knitting together in disbelief, attempting to take in what she was telling him. "Ya' decided to 'fix it'? How, exactly?"

"One of the electrical connections to the bridge was miswired. The result is a loss of visual data to the display on the Bridge. I bypassed that particular connection aannnddd…" she paused as she finished the job and, with a pleased expression on her face – one that only came from fixing a problem – turned to face her commanding officer just as the Captain's voice drifted from the comm, "Thank you, Scotty."

--- --- ---

Cate wished she knew what Mr. Scott was thinking at just that moment as a whirlwind of emotions played across his face. One moment he was confused, then angry, then curious, then dismissive, then… She lost track and hoped that she wasn't going to be kicked off the _Enterprise_ after her first fifteen minutes onboard.

"What's your name, Cadet?" he asked, his facial expression settling on something like immense curiosity.

"Caitlyn Johnson, sir." She paused for a moment, then decided to go on. "Reporting for duty."

"You've done a bit more than report, Mister Johnson. Where did you learn to do that?"

"The computer had already located the faulty connection, sir. All I did was respond. Did I do something wrong, sir?" She raised an eyebrow in question, still wondering what he was going to do.

"I have nearly a hundred and fifty engineers down here trying to get ready to go and fix that problem and you're the only one who gets it on her first try?"

"Apparently, sir. I apologize for –"

"No need to apologize, Mister. May I ask if this is your first assignment?"

"It is, sir."

He paused to think. Cate continued to wait. "I'd like to see you in my quarters as soon as everything gets settled," he told her, his tone decisive.

"Of course, sir."

He nodded and started to walk away, then paused. "Oh, Cadet?"

"Yes, sir?"

He smiled. "If any more problems like that crop up, go ahead and fix them, please. Just tell me when you're done."

Cate smiled back and nodded smartly. For once, she had done something right and no one had gotten pissed about it. All in all, she began to feel optimistic that she might be able to fit in at least a little bit on the _Enterprise._


	2. Lunchtime and Introductions

Cate was waiting outside Mr. Scott's quarters, looking out the window at the stars, when he finally got away from the engineering deck. "Ah, Mister Johnson. Thanks for coming. I know getting acquainted with the ship is a bit difficult at first."

"Thank you, sir," she replied, feeling slightly uncomfortable, but pushing it aside as he led the way through the door and into the dark main section of his living quarters. Her mind began running through all the possible scenarios this conversation could take. Was she going to get a lecture on her first day?

"Please, sit down." He gestured at a standard issue couch against the wall as he sat himself down in a chair directly across from her. Cate attempted to keep herself as composed as possible, even though she really, really wanted to go back to the engineering deck. "This is your first assignment, you said?"

If there was one thing Cate was appreciative of, it was that Scotty didn't feel the need to beat around the bush for an extra ten minutes before getting to the point. She nodded. "Yes sir." She hesitated a moment. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, what exactly is this about?"

He chuckled good naturedly. "Well, since you decided to make such a great impression on us all on your first day, I decided that I wanted to know more about you. You seem to be good at your job, and it's my job to get you well placed. I want you doing things that you like doing. After all, we're up here for months, even years, at a time and no one wants to be stuck doing something they hate. So what do you like?"

"Couldn't you find this in my file, sir? I did answer a survey about personal preferences before I was assigned here."

"I try not to read the files of interesting people. I'd rather get to know them in person." His green eyes sparkled merrily.

"I like fixing things, sir. I like warp drives and teleporters and all that other good stuff that comes with a starship. I like good old fashioned toolboxes. I like computers. And Calculus. I really like Calculus."

"You like Calculus? I think that's the first time I've heard that one. What else?"

"Physics?" She was at a loss. What was he looking for?

"Get away from being an engineer for a minute. What else do you like?"

"I'm really not seeing the point of this, Mr. Scott."

"Call me Scotty. What else do you like?"

"Uhhh… I was asked to lead a class for hand-to-hand combat training while I was at the Academy. I draw and read from time to time. Food is nice."

Her stomach grumbled right on cue and Cate silently cursed it for being so loud. Scotty laughed. "Have you eaten lunch yet, Cate? Uhhh… you don't mind if I call you by your first name, do ya?"

Cate grinned. "Not at all, Scotty. And no, I haven't eaten. I followed orders first, sir."

"Good. Let's go grab a bite with friends, then. Sound good?"

She nodded silently, the word "friends" spinning through her mind. What did he mean by that? Was he calling her, an untried cadet fresh out of Starfleet and the one person on the engineering deck who'd thought faster than him in a while, his friend? _Friend. Sounds great._

--- --- ---

Cate felt increasingly awkward as she walked with Scotty into the Mess Hall. People stared as she grabbed a lunch tray and selected her food. She even heard gasps of surprise as she followed him to a table off in the corner of the room. Not knowing what else to do, she sat down quietly next to him and attempted to ignore the myriad of conversations her overly sensitive ears picked up from around her. Her commanding officer, and only friend on the ship so far, couldn't help but laugh.

"Your name seems to get around fast around here, judging by the talk." He nodded vaguely to the rest of the room.

"Not really," she replied with a grimace, having unsuccessfully attempted to shake off her discomfort. "I didn't get along with too many people at the Academy... They thought I was too smart to have a social life. I came in handy right before final exams when everyone realized that they needed help with studying," she added at the prompting of Scotty's questioning glance.

He laughed. "Well, we'll see if we can change that. I have very little objection to having someone around who knows more than I do, so you're in no danger from me." He grinned suddenly. "That is, as long as you don't go after my job. I kinda like it, currently."

"I'll try and keep that in mind. I don't think I want your job, anyway. Not yet, at least."

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, Cate attempting to suppress her ecstasy at having someone to talk to for once.

"So how do you like it so far?" Scotty asked suddenly.

"I keep getting rye seeds stuck in my teeth. But the turkey's pretty good as long as you ignore the fact that it was sitting in whatever this yellow stuff is." Cate improvised since she had very little idea of what she was being asked.

He laughed, surprised at her answer. "No, no. The _Enterprise_, lass. What do you think of her?"

"She's..." she paused, lost for words as she remembered the great, majestic form of the starship out the window. "Beautiful," she finished, shoving a bite of her sandwich into her mouth before she could say any more.

"That she is," a new, yet uncomfortably familiar, voice announced proudly as its owner sat down across from her friend. Cate realized that she'd just been addressed by her captain and scrambled to get to attention and salute even as Scotty grabbed her by the back of her belt and pulled her back down to the bench. "At ease, Cadet. You're at lunch with friends" - there was that word again - "So stop being formal." He smiled charmingly at her and extended a hand across the table. "Jim Kirk. Nice to meet you."

She took it hesitatingly, still feeling like she had no idea what she was supposed to do but doing something anyway. "Cate Johnson, sir."

"She fixed your visual display this morning, Jim," Scotty added through his food.

"Here I was thinking that _you'd_ done that, Scotty."

"Got to it faster than I could. Quick on her feet, this one."

Cate blushed at the praise, uncomfortable once again. "I had good training, sir."

"What's this 'sir' business?" Another voice joined the conversation, accompanied by a man wearing a blue uniform. "Don't they teach people anything at the Academy these days?"

"I know," cried Kirk in mock indignation. "You'd think I was the captain from the way she's going on." He turned firmly to Cate, a smile lighting up his eyes. "Stop it."

She nodded with a shy smile as the other man sat down next to his captain. "Leonard McCoy. Pleased to meet you." He inclined his head with a small smile.

"Cate Johnson. Nice to meet you, too." She was starting to feel like she was losing her grip on reality. Was she seriously sitting at the same table with the captain of a starship, his chief engineer, and someone who appeared to be the chief medical officer? And were they joking with her? She shook her head slightly in disbelief, suddenly realizing why people had been whispering as she'd sat down.

"Spock!" Kirk laughed, seeing his friend looking for their table. "Get over here."

The addressed individual immediately moved across the room to where they were sitting. Cate's eyes took him in all at once - the pale skin, pointed ears, black hair, blue shirt... Something in her mind registered that he was Vulcan, but that didn't mean anything to her at the time.

"Meet Cate Johnson, Spock," Kirk smiled as he introduced them. The Vulcan inclined his head slightly, a smile in his eyes but not in his face. "Nice to meet you," he said softly, his voice still clearly audible.

Cate smiled warmly. "Likewise," she commented as he took the seat directly opposite her.

Conversations continued down the table, and Cate eventually stopped trying to keep track of them all. She sat, consumed by her own thoughts, until that soft, carefully unemotional voice interrupted her, almost hesitantly.

"If you'll pardon me for asking, where exactly are you stationed?"

She looked up suddenly, only to be met with his dark eyes boring into her own. She was surprised by the intensity of his steady, curious gaze and was silent for a split second, trying to remember exactly what he'd said. "The Engineering Deck," she replied, remembering herself. "I don't really have a formal positioning yet. Just the assignment to the ship and section."

"What kind of engineering?"

"I formally specialize in mechanical and aerospace, but I do a bit of everything, really. You?"

"I'm the Science Officer on the Bridge. I'm also Jim's First Officer."

Cate had to keep her thoughts in check yet again. She was nearly blown away by the idea that she could be talking personally with the First Officer of the _Enterprise_ on her first day. "Science Officer," she stated, trying to keep up the conversation. "That sounds exciting."

"I also help out in engineering once and a while," he said, changing the subject.

She smiled. "Really. Maybe we'll see each other down there sometime."

He was about to reply when Kirk cut in. "What are you two talking about all by yourselves?"

A flicker of annoyance danced across Spock's serious features but was quickly covered. He opened his mouth to respond, but Cate got to it first. "Just small talk, sir. Trying to get to know each other."

Kirk's face took on a pained expression. "Please call me Jim when we're not working."

"We were just observing that we might have the opportunity to work together sometime on the engineering deck," Spock put in calmly.

"Between the two of ya," Scotty laughed, "I won't have any control over what goes on down there at all. On the bright side, everything will be working really well and problems will get fixed really fast."

Spock looked confused until Kirk explained. "She fixed the visual display."

The Vulcan nodded in acceptance and resumed eating.

"How'd you do that by the way?" Kirk's blue eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"There was a faulty electrical connection that I bypassed."

"Will it be a problem for anything else?"

"It shouldn't be," replied Scotty. "I was going to see if I could get the lass to fix it tomorrow if she finds the time."

"I can start on it tonight if you'd like," Cate offered, finishing off the last of her sandwich.

"Do you want me to check on her, Jim?" Bones inquired in mock concern. "Normal people don't trade free time for extra work."

"It's not work when you're having fun," Cate commented with a shrug. "You want me to start working on it tonight, Scotty?"

He thought for a moment. "Nope. I want you to get acquainted with your quarters. Spend some time exploring, so on and so forth. Like a lass on her first starship should." Cate fought back the secret relief she felt over not having to return to the Engineering Deck after lunch. She liked her job well enough, but she liked free time too."Besides, I need some time t' give people jobs for the next three years. I don't want to have to run around and watch whachyou're doin' for the next few hours."

"I could give you a tour of the starship, if you like," offered Spock.

Cate smiled and accepted, then turned and wondered why the rest of the table was looking at her in nearly openmouthed shock.


	3. Feelings of Discomfort

Spock was tense. Uncomfortable, awkward, stiff. Whatever word you called it by it was the same thing. And Cate couldn't help but think that some part of him regretted offering to give her the tour of the ship. As he walked, beside and slightly in front of her, hands clasped firmly behind his back, his muscles were completely rigid, his voice carefully measured. Cate thought it was curious, however, that none of his discomfort showed on his face. She had heard about the Vulcan rejection of emotion before, of course, but she'd never seen it firsthand. To say the least, she thought it was fascinating.

The tone of the tour got even _more_ strained when the two reached the Bridge. Spock was right in the middle of a spiel about how the Bridge was essentially the central nervous system of the _Enterprise_ when they were noticed by a tall, lithe woman sitting at the Communications station. As the woman's bright brown eyes fell on Spock, her face lit up in the most brilliant smile Cate had ever seen. The young engineer was literally awed by her presence, fully believing she would never meet a more genuinely beautiful human being anywhere in the universe.

If she had thought it possible, however, Cate would have sworn that her tour guide got even more tense. At the back of her mind, in the brain space she normally used to store page numbers to technical manuals and where she left the wrench in the Construction Shop, she began to suspect that Vulcans were not quite as apathetic as they wanted to appear. It was at that moment that Spock became Cate's newest focus of study.

"Cadet Johnson," he began, his voice ever so slightly changed by something that might have been akin to panic. Might have been, that is, if Spock were human. "May I introduce Lieutenant Uhura, our Communications Officer and Xenolinguistics expert onboard."

The Lieutenant was unphased by Spock's formal attitude. "Well, I _did_ learn from the best, Commander," she teased. Her gaze fell on Cate, who at once felt as if she were being intensely studied, accepted as a member of the crew, and sized up all at the same time, resulting in a very strange mix of mostly uncomfortable emotions that, under less socially stressful conditions, might have made her want to start a fight. Cate also felt like she would probably lose said fight if Spock decided to step in and stop her, which he probably would if she decided to try it. "Pleased to meet you, Mister Johnson," smiled the Lieutenant, extending a gracefully slim hand to the Cadet.

In spite of herself, Cate mustered the best smile she could past her instant feelings of severe inferiority and gently accepted the offered appendage. "Likewise, Lieutenant Uhura."

"I'm sorry I wasn't down to lunch today, Commander," she continued, her attention switching back to Spock. "I was trying to get some extra work done while I had time." She paused, and it was a very definitely awkward pause. Cate resisted the sudden strong inclination to shift her weight back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Maybe I'll see you both at dinner." She had _said_ "you both," but she very obviously only meant the "you" part and that was almost equally obviously directed at the Vulcan.

Cate silently debated whether she should be amused or jealous, all the while hoping that none of her thoughts were displayed too prominently on her facial features. Her instinct very specifically told her that she should be jealous, but she didn't really have a reason to pursue that train of emotion, especially since she'd only known Spock a few hours and he seemed to be oddly repulsed by her when they were alone. And so, amusement won out in the end and a small, nearly unnoticeable smirk drifted to tug at the corner of her mouth as she suppressed all feelings of irrational jealousy to the other useless part of her brain where she had been remembering how to get to the closest bathrooms at the Academy.

Uhura walked over to the lift, taking her time about it. Spock's tortured gaze followed her the whole way.

Since the Bridge had been the last part of the tour, Spock quietly and coldly escorted Cate back to her quarters. His dark eyes were strangely conflicted as he said goodbye, emptily commenting that he hoped to see her at dinner later in the evening. Cate appreciated the gesture of the words, but felt like there wasn't much of anything behind them. She could tell he was thinking about something – or someone – else.

She smiled and thanked him for taking the time to show her around and returned the sentiment of hoping to see him later in the day. He paused for a moment, just looking at her with his thoughts swirling around in his head like a poorly constructed, half finished smoothie, and making Cate feel increasingly uncomfortable. And then, without another word, he departed to go do something or other and left Cate to find something or other to do with herself. She stored the information back with what was left of the location of that wrench and entered her quarters to make sure her belongings had made it safely to the room. Then, not having anything else to do, she made her way down to the Rec Deck, feeling like she needed to hit something and stop thinking. Why did she suddenly feel like she was the only person on board who didn't know exactly what was going on?


	4. A Change in Uniform

"I want to make 'er my second in command," said Scotty firmly, almost as sure of himself as he sounded.

"Is this because she's qualified in your opinion or because you like her?" Kirk asked, some semblance of seriousness in his voice. Scotty couldn't quite decide if he was teasing or not.

"I've got a good feeling. Look, I know she's just a cadet and that she's new on the ship, but I've been thinkin' abou' it and I really wanna make 'er my second in command."

"It could be bad for morale - you having a newbie as your 'First Engineer.' How do you want to deal with that?"

Scotty's face fell. "I haven't figured that one out yet."

"It'll be really obvious if she's still a cadet."

"What're ya sayin', Jim? You wanna promote her? I thought you said we shouldn't show favoritism because we like people."

"I never said that. I was just asking if you picked her because she had some genuine good qualities or because you were attracted." He paused, trying to keep a grin from spreading across his face. "I wouldn't blame you, you know."

"I wouldn't do that, sir," the engineer said indignantly. "It would completely destroy the professional appearance of the Engineering Deck. Not to mention that I want somebody who actually knows what they're doing taking over for me in the unfortunate event of my death."

Kirk took a minute to absorb that, the unused, rusting wheels in his head beginning to turn a little bit faster. "So what do you think?"

"What do ya' mean?"

"About promoting her, Scotty. We really shouldn't let a cadet take the second most prominent position in Engineering. It could cause problems later on."

"How far do ya' wanna go?"

"I haven't decided yet."

--- --- ---

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu strode purposefully into the gym section of the Rec Deck, looking for a sparring partner. His yellow overshirt discarded in favor of the less restricting black casual wear, the helmsman appeared to be just another officer in pursuit of entertainment for the rest of the day - which was exactly how he intended to look. He'd learned early on the last mission that no one wanted to fight with anyone who worked on the bridge. He could always try and order someone to do it, but that never ended well for anyone.

His dark eyes skimmed the myriad of off-duty officers, cadets, and ensigns roaming around the deck, sizing each of them up and looking for someone who looked like they needed to vent. He found just the cadet he was looking for sitting across the way, arms crossed half-heartedly and glaring convincingly at the ground.

A smile lighting up his face, Sulu made his way over, grabbed her by the front of her red uniform, and pulled her towards the padded room designed specifically for the purpose of keeping the _Enterprise_ crew in top mental and physical condition. She struggled a bit, but gave up when she noticed where they were going. Her arms re-crossed themselves - this time a bit more firmly - and her mouth set itself in a grim smile. Sulu noticed her reaction and knew he had picked the right partner.

Sulu figured they would save introductions and other polite behavior until after they'd attempted to beat each other to a pulp, so he dropped her unceremoniously on the ground, smiled brightly at her, and walked to the other side of the room, extremely excited. When he turned around, she was already set to go. He bowed politely, still smiling, and the match began.

--- --- ---

When Kirk and Scotty finally made their way to the Rec Deck, there was a crowd formed around the viewing screen looking in on one of the sparring rooms. At first they thought nothing of it, knowing that Sulu often attracted attention when he wanted to get some exercise in. But when one of the ensigns shouted something along the lines of, "Damn, go get him girl!" the captain and his chief engineer had no choice but to yield to their curiosity and go look for themselves.

Scotty took a moment to fully absorb what he was seeing. Essentially, Sulu had met his match for hand-to-hand combat. Red met black in a stunning display of force, each side exerting an incredible amount of effort in trying to find the holes in the other's defense. It took Scotty a minute or so to discover that the red-colored blur was none other than his newest friend, and the very person he and his captain had been looking for.

When the engineer glanced up to comment on finding Cate at last, Kirk already had a grin plastered across his face. He rolled his eyes at Jim's easily distracted attention and turned to another Cadet standing nearby. "How long has this been going on?" he inquired curiously, his Scottish lilt catching the young man by surprise.

"Uhh... Nearly an hour, sir. I think. I haven't really been keeping track of the time, Mr. Scott."

Scotty's green eyes darted back to the screen in wide-eyed shock. "An hour? They've been poundin' on each other like that for the past _hour_? Are you serious, Mister?"

"Yessir. At least for forty five minutes - that's when I got here. They might've been at it before then, sir. But there wasn't much of a crowd then."

He turned back to Kirk, who was only partially paying attention to his surroundings. The captain was enjoying the match, partially disappointed that female engineers were allowed to wear pants instead of the usual skirts due to the active nature of their jobs. It was difficult to climb ladders and play with warp drives in skirts.

"Do ya' think we should break it up, sir?"

"Naw," replied Kirk, eyes still glued to the screen where Cate was narrowly avoiding being thrown into the wall and Sulu was close to getting a very firm kick to the ribs. "They're almost done."

"How can ya' tell, sir?"

"Sulu's getting tired. That throw looked like it was only half-hearted. Hey, would you mind if I decided to stick her on the primary roster for away missions?"

"With what I'm seeing now, sir, I'd be concerned if you decided not to."

Cate's leg swept Sulu's feet out from underneath him and he fell to the floor, right on top of her when she couldn't quite get out of the way in time. Neither one of them could muster enough energy to pick themselves up off the ground.

"Would you mind coming with me to intervene now, Mr. Scott?" inquired Kirk, his words more of a sentence than a question, as he abruptly turned and headed for the door of the room. Scotty followed in thoughtful and awed silence.

--- --- ---

Cate tried in vain to slow her breathing, which was strained anyway due to the weight of the asian man sprawled across her stomach. Both of them were covered in sweat, their clothes sticking to their bodies as if glued. Every muscle in Cate's body was experiencing a dull ache that prevented her from moving even an inch in any direction.

"Sorry," groaned her opponent, attempting to lift himself off of her and failing, the effect being him falling on her stomach for a second time.

Cate let out an audible "oof" and coughed slightly. "Don't do that again," she said firmly, not caring what rank he was or bothering with formalities of any kind at that point.

"Got it."

The door opened with a _whoosh_, but neither one of them reacted in the slightest - not even opening their eyes to see who it was.

--- --- ---

Kirk smirked down at the two inert figures sprawled on the floor with their eyes closed in exhaustion. "I see you've finally met your match, Mr. Sulu. I hope this means you'll stop dragging helpless people in here to torture."

"Yes sir," replied Sulu, too tired to manage much else of a reply.

"And Mister Johnson, fancy seeing you here." The smirk continued, although the captain was having a hard time not allowing it to progress into a full out grin. "I think this qualifies you for away missions, so don't be surprised if I ask you to come to the teleporters at some point."

"Yes sir," replied Cate, echoing Sulu. Where had she heard that name before? To hell with it. Wasn't worth the effort.

"I hope this won't effect your performance in Engineering?"

"Not at all, sir."

"And I trust you'll take care not to break each other?"

"Of course, Captain," they said simultaneously, surprised that they had been thinking the same thing at the same time, but too tired to do anything about it.

"Good." He smiled brightly, hands clasped behind his back. "I'll have your new uniforms sent to you quarters, Mister Johnson. They should be there when you get back, but I'm going to assume that it's going to take a while for you to get off the floor."

Even Cate's exhausted brain picked up on that. "New uniforms sir?"

"Yes, Mister Johnson. Lieutenants get another stripe on their sleeves." Cate could hear the smirk in his voice. "Congratulations. You've been promoted."

"Thank you sir," she groaned half-heartedly. Why did people do things like that when she hadn't done anything to deserve it? It made her feel like a pawn being moved around on a chess board without being told what was going on.

Kirk left, and Cate was surprised to hear Scotty's voice telling her that he still expected to see her on the engineering deck in the morning for assignment, even if she was too sore to get out of bed.


	5. Who was that?

Spock looked distracted, and Kirk noticed. His pointy-eared, green blooded friend was sitting silently at the science station, fingers absently playing with various brightly colored buttons and knobs, and staring blankly into space. If the First Officer had been human and prone to such inexplicable lapses in focus, the sometimes-observant captain of the Enterprise would have paid it no notice. As it was, however, the thumb-twiddling Vulcan off to his right was both worrisome and irritating. He looked as if he were thinking really hard about something he really didn't want to be thinking about, and the fact that Kirk could tell made the whole situation cause for some kind of concern.

The young captain had no intention of calling the pensive Science Officer out in front of the entire bridge, however. Although Spock would likely appear apathetic in such a situation, his friend would rather have not added more thought to his apparently already-troubled mind. So Kirk kept his mouth shut, even if the effort made him squirm ever so slightly with curiosity in his chair.

Even later, when the two of them were together in the lift on the way to lunch, Kirk restrained his nearly-itching fingers from stopping the lift to ask what was going on. By then it had become a challenge – a game of sorts – and Kirk had an inexplicable weakness for challenges. How long could he keep himself from asking? For a moment, as they sat down across from Bones and Scotty in the Mess Hall, he almost lost his resolve.

"She went out to look for that faulty connection at the beginning of her shift. She could have just told someone else to do it, but she seemed like she'd rather fix it herself, so I didn't stop her. Haven't seen her since." Scotty's eyebrows were knitted together as if he were genuinely concerned about having not seen his newest Lieutenant for most of the morning.

"I don't know about her, Scotty. I'm inherently suspicious of anyone who insists on working overtime – especially around here." Bones's signature scowl danced sullenly across his face as he stared down his food.

"She'll grow out of it," commented Kirk, decidedly not looking at his pointy-eared companion. "She's just young and enthusiastic – fairly typical traits among freshly promoted cadets onboard their first starship. She'll get tired of working more than she has to soon enough. Don't you agree, Mr. Spock?"

Kirk, finally glancing over at his friend, caught the tail end of a puzzled look of panic racing across the half-vulcan's face. Spock's voice, however, remained as cool and steady as ever. "Quite the contrary, Captain. The Lieutenant's enthusiasm for her job is something we would all benefit from sharing."

"I'll second that," Scotty raised his hand, not looking up from the sandwich he was attempting to shove down his throat as quickly as possible. "She definitely makes my job a lot easier – fewer things I have to worry about meeself, if we can keep track o' her during the day."

Bones looked incredulously at both the First Officer and Chief Engineer, mouth nearly hanging open in something that was almost but not quite genuine shock. "Jim, I think I'm going to have to declare them unfit for duty if they continue on like this."

A smirk stole across the captain's lips. "I agree with them."

The expression of total horror on McCoy's face was absolutely priceless.

--- --- ---

The wires touched again, sending yet another shower of white-hot sparks flying in Cate's face as she squinted and squirmed away for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. The myriad of brightly colored cords hanging tauntingly above her remained a puzzle unsolved, even after countless minutes of cutting and twisting and then repairing them again. How many hours had it been? Three? Four? She checked her watch. Nearly nine. Nine whole freakin' hours stuck in a hole in the wall with only the frustrating tangle of plastic and metal above her. Her uniform was singed in too many places to keep track of; her fingertips nearly bleeding with too much contact with sharp pointy wire-ends.

Taking a deep breath in an effort to keep calm in the face of another failure, she returned the wires to their original places and prepared herself for another try, mentally talking herself through the process. Holding her breath, she touched another two together. For a moment, nothing happened, and she began to smile in success, tasting sweet victory on her tongue as she exhaled. Then, all the lights went out in the corridor.

"God Fucking Dammit!!!" she swore, wiggling in complete frustration out of the hole in the wall where she'd been working. Springing energetically and angrily to her feet, she kicked the wall several times enthusiastically, accentuating the action with a demonstration of her recently expanded vocabulary. At last, she stood, arms crossed across her chest, fuming and glaring at the hole she'd just spent the last few hours cooped up inside.

"That was impressive," a definitively male voice commented from behind her, causing her to jump in surprise and whirl around. Her blazing blue gaze crashed harshly against his cool brown. She sized him up in an instant – blue shirt, engineering insignia (the combination of which didn't quite make sense to her), a little less than a foot taller than she was. As her eyes took in the two, thick gold bars on his sleeve, however, she paled a little and bit off the hot retort that had risen to her lips.

She lowered her eyes, still feeling more than frustrated over her apparent shortcomings. "I apologize for my outburst, Commander –"

"Downs," he supplied. "And there's no reason for you to call me 'Commander.' I'm pretty sure the only reason I've been promoted thus far is because they want to give me enough power to stay out of trouble," – a slight chuckle – "It hasn't worked very well so far. Call me Aiden, Lieutenant… ?" He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Johnson. Cate Johnson."

He laughed lightly. "So you're the new girl everybody's talking about?" He glanced over her shoulder at the hole in the wall. "Need any help with that?"

"No sir," she answered, too quickly and too harshly. She glared at him, not really in the mood to be teased. Fortunately, he decided not to pay attention to her response. She knew cadets who had been demoted to Academy First years for less than her tone just now.

He moved around her, rolled up his sleeves and crawled into the space where she'd been working. "Well," he commented, voice muffled slightly by the metallic panels between them. "Looks like you've been here for a while. No offense, but your wiring job looks like crap. Aaaaannnnddddd….. that should do it." He slid himself out of the wall and stood up, brushing his hands off and sporting a smug smirk.

She glared. "There's no way."

He shrugged. "So go check."

She glared for a second longer, then turned on her heel and marched herself to the nearest data screen. Downs followed behind nonchalantly, smirk still in place, hands clasped casually behind his back. "Computer," she commanded, glaring at the Commander from the corner of her eye. "Visual on the Bridge View Screen."

In slightly more than an instant, an image of the bridge appeared on the screen. Outlined in an electronic blue glow, the Main View Screen was proudly displaying stars traveling past them at warp speed, much to Cate's extreme irritation. She continued to scowl at the screen for several moments, Downs waiting patiently behind her – presumably still smirking infuriatingly. She chanced a small glance at him. Yup. That was possibly the most infuriating facial expression she had ever seen. Briefly, she considered slapping it off of his borderline-scruffy face. But, since that might possibly earn her a court-marshal when she got back to Earth, she decided that was probably not the best idea. Taking a deep breath, she regained control of herself and turned to fully face her latest acquaintance, looking him straight in the eyes, and reminding herself that, as long as the problem was solved, it didn't matter who solved it.

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help. Will that be all, Commander?" She waited for a response, nearly at attention.

He frowned slightly. "Didn't I tell you to call me Aiden? And no, that won't be all. The reason I was down here to begin with was to find someone who could help me with a project I'm working on. Care to contribute?"

"What's the project?"

He strode over to a strange device on the floor that Cate hadn't noticed before. It was semi-circular shaped, with various buttons and knobs affixed across the plain surface. There was a single screen, which looked to be LED – old fashioned to say the least, but most likely still effective. She wondered where he'd gotten one.

As he returned to her with the device, his eyes lit up with enthusiasm and he explained – partially. "I read something – a theory – on my data pad the other day and wanted to test it. Permission to touch?"

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, but curiosity got the better of her. "Granted. So that thing is…?"

"Going to measure the size of your head." He gently set the device on her head like a hat. The bottom of it came down to the middle of her forehead. It was a little bit heavy, making her wonder what he made it out of, but the inside was padded, apparently for comfort. "If you'll excuse me for just a moment." He stood on his toes to play with some of the buttons on the device. As he stood back after what seemed like minutes, a blue screen was projected in the air in front of her, encompassing her head down to the base of her neck. Surprised, she flinched. "Please don't move if you can help it. This will only take a few seconds."

She did her best to stay absolutely still as she was, apparently, scanned. Every curve of her face and, she assumed, her ears, neck, and back of her head was gone over and recorded in the databank of the device, stored for future use. In seconds, it was finished, and the screen disappeared. Downs closed the distance between them and, paying no attention to the very confused engineer under his contraption, read the screen, nodded in satisfaction, removed the machine, and walked down the hall without so much as a "thank you" or a "have a nice day." Cate didn't even get the satisfaction of a glance over the shoulder, a smile, or even the noncommittal, stereotypical asshole wave over the shoulder. She stood there, looking stupidly after him and being very glad that no one else was in the hall, for several moments, and then began gathering up her tools and the bits of wire laying around, sourly eager to get back to her room and to bed.

--- --- ---

She was late for dinner. Unusual, but acceptable, Spock decided. His intense, brown gaze followed her as she sat down at the far end of the table with her tray. She looked like she was thinking, eyes kept absently pointed toward the food she wasn't eating. Considering that she, presumably, hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, the fact that she was idly pushing green beans and mashed potatoes around on her plate was, simply, illogical. He would have expected her to be shoveling it down her throat as if it were going to disappear.

But, he reminded himself, she wasn't exactly the kind of person to do the expected, if he read her correctly. So, his presumption in itself must be declared illogical, which was a fact that disturbed him greatly.

He suddenly realized that he'd been staring. So he stopped, still disturbed by his lack of focus. What was the captain saying again? Something about a chance for shore leave in the not too distant future. It had been less than a week in space for this crew. Why did Kirk want to give them a break now when they hadn't burned out yet?

"Spock," the captain replied after Spock voiced his question, "Who knows when we'll have an opportunity for another shore leave? I wouldn't want the crew to be stuck out here in space for months and months at a time without even the memory of a good break. Would you?"

Spock confirmed that he wouldn't, and went back to his food, keeping exactly 15% of his attention on the conversation going on and the other 85% on watching Cate from the corner of his eye. When he realized what he was doing, he immediately evaluated why, exactly, he was watching her. Then he reminded himself promptly that he was only interested because she was… well… because he didn't know what she was.

He was so utterly consumed by the questions running through his high-capacity Vulcan mind that he almost didn't notice the blue-shirted Commander sitting down in the empty space next to the young Lieutenant until said Commander began to speak. His attention switched back to the scene at the end of the table.

"Well, you've certainly made an impression on people if they're letting you sit _here_." The Commander's statement was pointed, but casual. It was almost as if he were teasing her.

"I could say the same to you, Commander. I wasn't aware that your influence extended this far out of your basement." She was fighting back, eyebrows raised in a dare, but otherwise calm. Intriguing.

The Commander laughed. Spock wondered if he'd ever seen the man before. For once, he couldn't remember. But he was beginning to have to fight down the impulse to get him removed from the dining hall – or at least from the table. Pesky emotions. He wondered how humans survived with them all the time and didn't annihilate each other.

"So you found out we had a basement? Surprising, really, even for you. And I guess that disproves my hypothesis, at least partially."

She was baited. Both Spock and the Commander could see it, even if Cate was struggling not to yield. Finally, she gave in. Hooked. "Hypothesis? I didn't know you were legitimately a scientist." Of course, her surrender came with another sting.

He laughed again. "Kinda. I was testing out a theory from Earth's Germany a long long time ago. Don't remember the name of it, but it has something to do with the size of a person's head being related to their intelligence. You have a pretty average sized head, in case you wanted to know."

"Thanks. Appreciate it." Was that sarcasm? "Was that what the machine thing was for earlier?"

"Yes. That and a lot more. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime." He seemed like he was done with the conversation. Cate went back to playing with her food. Was that it? As the Commander finished eating and stood up, he handed the Lieutenant a note and looked her in the eyes, briefly. "Level 5 below the bridge. Room 228. See you whenever you feel like visiting. I'll probably be awake working on something."

Spock suppressed the urge to go after the man and insert him into one of the walls – permanently. He was very appreciative – and almost equally not – of his Vulcan upbringing.


	6. Learning

Cate followed the directions on the note immediately after she finished not eating dinner. She could barely contain her curiosity, which overrode the voice in her head telling her not to seem too eager. She took a deep breath, standing awkwardly in front of the doorway labeled 228 on Level 5 below the Bridge, and rapped her knuckles once on the doorframe, secretly hoping he wouldn't answer.

The door slid open at a muffled word from inside. "Enter!" he called. She could somehow tell that he hadn't looked up from whatever he was doing. Lucky her. He was there.

She strode with feigned confidence through the door and into the cluttered laboratory. She instantly wondered how he ever passed inspections with a room as disorganized as this one was. Half-finished projects lay about in random order across tables too small for them. Charts and tables were rolled up or pinned to walls, depending on which ones he was using. Tools were scattered on carts, one for each table. Parts and pieces of machinery and wiring littered parts of the floor. The lights were muted.

"I'm back here," he called again from across the lab, behind a lit doorframe. She crossed his workspace quickly, not pausing to look at the projects on the tables. One of them had a vaguely human shape and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was. She passed through the door and found herself in his personal quarters. If his lab had been messy, his bedroom was verging on OCD-clean. The bedspread was in disarray, but that was the only thing in the room, as far as Cate could see, that was out of order. The walls were devoid of posters. The desk was clean, except for a datapad, which was lined up perfectly with the edge of the desk. The lights in here were muted as well, except for the one directly above his bed, which he was using to read. For a moment, he didn't notice her standing there as he finished the page of the book – _a real book! _– he was reading. Then he looked up, a smile lighting his face as he greeted her – finally.

"I didn't quite expect you so soon. Figured you'd want to make me wait a while to prove you weren't really interested." His eyes were mischievous – teasing again, but almost half-heartedly.

She raised her eyebrows. "I can leave if you like and come back later. Doesn't hurt me any. I can live with curiosity." She turned to leave.

"No, that's not what I meant. Sit down. Please." She returned his now-serious gaze, deciding whether or not she wanted to stay.

"Sit where? You don't really have a chair."

He pulled his legs underneath him and leaned against the wall, opening up a section of the bed. Once again, she took a moment to decide whether or not she should leave. Then she took the seat on the bed, folding her legs underneath her and sitting up straight. "So you going to tell me what the rest of your project is, or did you just want to sit?"

"I'll tell you eventually. I want to get to know you a bit first. I'll tell you what the project is when I'm finished with it. Promise."

She decided he meant it. "'Get to know' me? What's your plan for that one?"

"Talking with you, to start with. Asking questions, hanging out a little – things like that. Sound good to you?" He imitated her eyebrow-raise.

"Why not? I guess I don't really have anything to lose, do I?"

"Not really."

She nodded once. "So, first question. What exactly do you do?"

"I'm the resident Biomedical Engineer on the Enterprise." The mixed uniform and insignia suddenly made sense. Blue shirt for the biomedical part, plus the engineering insignia. Clever. She supposed it was better than mixing the red and blue together to get a purple-shirt. She nearly laughed at the idea of it. "I don't actually serve much of any function onboard, so they put me in a little room in some obscure corner of the ship, let me have just about whatever materials I feel like asking for, and hope I don't cause too much damage to the rest of the crew."

"So why do they have you here in the first place?"

"Because, once upon a time, there was a big ordeal with some sort of brain-attacking virus onboard a starship that the ship's medical officer couldn't come up with a vaccine quickly enough to save the crew. One of the engineers had some biomedical training and managed to save the day. So, instead of training the medical officers how to do my job, they just stick an extra person onboard and hope they don't actually need to use him for anything."

"That's… broken. Why would you put another person on a ship when it would be both more cost and resource effective to just make the medical officers learn biomedical engineering?"

He shrugged. "Starfleet. Who knows why they do anything. You're right though, it is kind of broken. I'm not complaining though. It gives me a job that lets me do just about whatever I please. It's very convenient."

"So what sort of things do you do?"

"I thought I was going to be asking the questions," he complained, but answered her anyway. "Just tinkering here and there. Testing theories I read on the datapad, play with models, research neurological processes. You know, just basic stuff. It's actually really fun. One of my projects right now is trying to find a way to make realistic prosthetics respond to brain impulses."

"How's that going?"

"Could be better. I decided to take a break and measure people's heads. Do I get to ask questions too?"

She grinned, having won more information than she had really hoped to get. "Sure."

"Great. So how exactly did you manage to get so well-known here in a week? I'm kinda surprised at that. I can't go anywhere without hearing your name. It's getting a little bit irritating – or, it _was_ irritating. Now it's just interesting, now that I actually know who you are."

"I bypassed the circuit you fixed earlier on the first day so that Kirk could use the viewscreen. Scotty was panicking, so I fixed it and he promoted me. For some reason, he felt like promoting me to Lieutenant so that I could be his second in command – I don't really know why. I'm still fresh out of the Academy and have little-to-no experience behind me. It doesn't really make sense, but I guess I won't complain."

"Good choice. I think I'd probably agree with him. What's this about being at the top of the list for away missions too? I don't think that came from bypassing a circuit."

"Sulu made me spar with him one day. I guess people were impressed? I was just lucky I didn't get my ass kicked publicly."

"The way I heard it, you and Sulu were matched pretty evenly. That's a big deal. Sulu's good."

"I have my suspicions he was holding back."

He shrugged. "Whatever you want to believe. I think you should give yourself more credit though. I hate it when people try to downplay their abilities. It makes me feel like they're putting themselves down."

"Sorry." She shrugged noncommittally. "Any more questions?"

"Yeah. How'd you like the Academy?"

And so it went for another several hours. He asked questions, she answered. Occasionally, the rolls would reverse for a while and Cate would get some more information. For the most part, though, she was the one talking. When they finally looked at the clock, it was two hours before they both were supposed to start their shifts. They slept for the better part of an hour, each of them curling up on the separate ends of the bed, and then went to breakfast late. Cate had to run to get to the Engineering deck on time to start an otherwise uneventful day.


	7. Bad Timing

_Author's Note: For those of you who asked, everyone calls Cate "Mister" because in a lot of the old episodes, the characters were referred to as "Mister _____," regardless of their gender. And yes, Cate is a girl. So, I have a question as far as which way the story should go. Should we end up with Spock? or with Downs? It'll be a little while before anything really definitive happens, but if you have any ideas let me know please!!! Thanks._

A few weeks passed, and everything continued fairly uneventfully, kind of. Cate and Aiden continued their late night discussions in his room. Spock continued to cover up whatever that pesky emotion was that was making him want to kill Downs every chance he saw him. And the only person who really noticed was Kirk, surprisingly. Yes, Kirk, against all odds, was the only person onboard the _Enterprise_ who noticed that the first officer, who was never, ever phased by anything, was getting frustrated over something as trivial and, well, _emotional_ as a girl. And Kirk was, by all means, enjoying every minute of it.

As Spock was sitting there at his precious Science station one quiet "afternoon", staring into space, brow furrowed in thought, and Kirk looking on and smirking knowingly, the lift to the Bridge opened up to reveal a panicked Aiden Downs, looking as if he had just lost something.

"Commander Downs," greeted Kirk, his focus on Spock effectively broken. "How can we help you?"

"Have you seen Cate?" the frantic commander blurted out, with no attempt at formality for his captain.

The question took Kirk aback. He'd been expecting something along the lines of "I was just working in the lab and discovered that the tiny little trees on Vulcan share an allele with humans," or "I wired a cat into the main circuit board again and can't get it out. Can you send someone to help me?" But no, he was asking if anyone had seen the girl he'd been spending his nighttime hours, and a fair amount of daytime hours, with daily. Yes, the commander had definitely lost something. "No. What's wrong now?"

Downs suddenly decided to regain a small amount of propriety at this point and actually blushed at the question. It was a small blush, of course. Nothing anyone who wasn't looking would see. But it was there all the same, and it made Kirk want to laugh. "Ummmm… That might be a conversation for another time, sir. Do you know where I might find her?"

"No, Commander, I don't." Kirk very quickly got a very interesting idea and a devilish twinkle in his eyes. "However… Commander Spock. Would you mind terribly helping Commander Downs track down our lost Lieutenant?"

Surprise and anger very quickly flitted across the Vulcan's face. He was slipping. Again. Kirk wondered if he could drive him to crack completely and just be human like the rest of them – well, at least like most of them. Without a word, Spock got up from his nifty little swivel chair and stood seemingly patiently in the lift, waiting for his loathe companion.

Downs very quickly saluted with a "Thank you, sir," and followed Spock into the lift and down the chute.

--- --- ---

Cate was pacing angrily around her room, reviewing the scenario she had just fled from. She should have known – should have guessed. He was off duty. What was so wrong with that? He had a right to do whatever he wanted while he was off duty. Anything at all. And she shouldn't have a problem with it because it wasn't any of her business. She had no claim on him – no control over what – or who – he did in his spare time. None at all. She didn't even like him.

Wait…

Did she?

Nooo… Of course not. _Cate?_ Like _Downs?_ No. No way. Not a chance. Of course she liked spending time with him, and looked forward to talking to him every night. But did she _like_ him?

No. Not after what she'd seen today. Not after – .

There was a sudden knock on the door and Cate stopped pacing abruptly to stare blankly at the black block of metal the noise was coming from. Should she open it? What if it was him? No, that would be impossible. She'd only been gone for about ten minutes and there was no way he could be finished with _all_ of them that quickly.

"Lieutenant Johnson?" Spock's calm voice floated over the intercom. Cate took a deep breath. "Are you there Lieutenant?"

After another breath, Cate pressed the button on the wall that let the door slide open, and immediately wished she'd hadn't.

"Cate, I – ." Aiden started.

"Shut it. I don't wanna hear it, Commander Downs. At least not in the middle of the hallway."

"Can we come in then?"

"Commander Spock can. I don't think I have enough cash on me to let _you_ in, though."

"Don't be ridiculous," he stated, brushing past her and into the room. "I don't accept cash."

Cate stepped back into the room to let Spock in and slid the door shut behind her. She turned around, eyes narrowed, arms crossed across her chest, and waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, but she figured she'd know it when it came out of his mouth.

"Ya know, I _was_ off duty."

"And you said I could come over anytime I wanted to. You should have defined 'anytime' then."

"You could have stayed."

"And joined in the fun? I'll pass, thanks."

"So what are you upset about."

"I don't really have a right to be upset. It's not my business."

"Regardless, you're upset. Would you care to explain? 'Cuz it's starting to worry me a little." He crossed his arms, stopped talking, and waited for the explosion.

"Five, Aiden? One? Sure. Two? Maybe. I don't care. But _five?"_

"Actually, there were another three in the bathroom… ummm… freshening up."

"You know, I should have thought about it when I was walking through the lab. I should have realized that you had someone else there – that you weren't just talking to yourself. That the loud music was unusual. Something, I guess. I dunno. And then I walk into the room and there you are! Except I can't really tell that it's you through the _five other bodies in the bed!_"

"Eight."

"But it's not my business. You were off duty. I shouldn't care that you had five – "

"Eight."

" – other girls with you. I shouldn't give a shit that you're having an orgy in your room while I'm standing in the doorway because I wanted to ask you a question! I don't even think that Kirk has that many at one time!"

"I don't know," Aiden mused. "I'll have to ask him about that. I'll bet he hasn't beaten fifteen yet, though."

"_Fifteen?!"_

"I'm joking, Cate. Relax."

"How do I know you again? I'm not supposed to know people involved with prostitution rings – let alone someone who _is_ an entire brothel all by himself."

"Hey. That's a little unfair. I wasn't being paid."

"And I don't even know why I give a shit."

"Why do you, by the way?"

"I don't know."

"Is it just because you walked in on it? Or would it bother you even if you heard it from someone else in the hallway?"

"I don't know!"

"Or is there something else that you're not talking about?"

"_I DON'T KNOW!!!" _

She fumed for a full minute, just standing there and waiting for herself to calm down enough to speak. Down's smirking didn't help much with that. Neither did Spock's attempt at meditation off to the side. Finally, she sighed heavily and looked away, walking towards the other side of the room and her desk.

"Damn it, Downs. Why'd you have to push my buttons like that? I'm strung tight enough as it is without you being an asshole."

There was another full minute of tense silence in which Downs managed to acquire a somewhat apologetic demeanor, Cate stared at her desk, and Spock pretended to meditate and wondered why he'd been ordered to go with Downs. Downs finally was the one to break the silence.

"Cate, I didn't – "

"Lieutenant Johnson and Commander Spock," announced Chekov's voice over the intercom. "Please meet Keptin Kirk at ze transporter room immediately. Zank you. Chekov out."

"Looks like you'll have to wait, Commander Downs. I have orders." She strode purposefully to the door and waited. "Will that be all, sir?" It was a clear dismissal. The Commander was getting kicked out by a Lieutenant. Downs had the funny feeling he always got when rank structure got flipped upside down on him, but left all the same with a, "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Johnson. Commander Spock." Feeling completely rejected for some reason, the Commander strode down the hallway and disappeared from Cate's sight. She almost felt bad – then remembered the five – no, eight – women he'd been caught with not half an hour beforehand. She figured he would probably just go back and get another bunch of them together for some more fun and games.

Without another word, Cate and Spock set off to the lifts to get to the transporter room where Kirk was waiting. She wished people would start telling her what was going on before she showed up.


	8. Away Mission

Spock and Cate made their way silently to the transporter room. Cate, of course, was still fuming from her encounter with Downs. She barely control her breathing, so of course talking to the blue-clad Vulcan walking beside her was completely out of the question. Spock, for his part, was still trying to sort out what exactly had just happened. As far as he could tell, Cate had walked in on an orgy Downs had been having. He searched his memory for the definition of orgy – it wasn't a term that came up very often in conversation. Ah yes. Now he remembered. He silently admitted to himself that he probably wouldn't be very happy to walk in on one of those either.

However, the lieutenant's reaction had been a little extreme. She had quite obviously invested some sort of emotional attachment to the commander, or else the outburst in her quarters wouldn't have ever occurred. She simply would have terminated the friendship – or overlooked it. As a friend of the commander's, his sexual exploits were, in all honesty, none of her business. As a potential love interest, however - … wait. Why was he trying to read into her this much? It wasn't as if he was – what was the term? Jealous? No. Jealousy was an emotion. And a useless one at that. Totally unacceptable. There was no possible way he was jealous.

Still, the tiny voice in his mind – that pesky, irritating, frustrating voice – that constantly reminded him of his human half, she was attractive. That, he couldn't deny. And that attraction was pushing him close to his breaking point. He was slipping. The voice was getting louder – no longer squashed underneath the pure weight of logic and reason. In fact, logic and reason seemed to support the idea that he was… jealous. Why else did he feel such a strong pull towards the engineer next to him? Why else did he have the nearly uncontrollable urge to banish the small pouting frown from her face and the troubled and angry spark in her eyes? And why else would he have felt that small twinge of satisfaction that the person who had caused that fury in her was the only man who could really possibly be any sort of competition for him?

But no. Jealousy was too… illogical. Emotional. Nonsensical. He couldn't allow himself to be jealous. It was simply too human.

_But Cate is human,_ the voice reminded him. _And what's so wrong with her? What's so wrong about letting yourself feel the way you want her to feel about you?_

He quickly stopped himself from answering out loud. He would have to meditate on it later. There were other things to attend to.

Spock had been so far gone in his thoughts that he had barely even noticed entering the transporter room to find the Captain, Mr. Scott, and Mr. Sulu. There must be an away mission going on.

Cate dutifully reported to the medical bay as Captain Kirk had ordered. She'd been so preoccupied by the images on the viewscreen of the abandoned spacecraft, combined with lingering anger over Downs, she hadn't noticed when the floor beneath her began to glow. Nor had she noticed the silvery ghost of a form drift into existence behind her until she felt its presence in her mind – like a feather being brushed against her skin combined with the faintest of headaches. Her attention being successfully diverted back to what was going on around her, she knew that the creature – whatever it was – was probing her brain. For what, she wasn't sure. When one silvery, translucent strand of what looked like it could have been an appendage reached towards her, she stood transfixed. There was such a beautiful swirling of colors in the creature – like the surface of a soap bubble when it catches the light. She just watched, and the tip of the tendril touched her face – right between her eyes.

At that point, she must have blacked out, because next thing she knew, Cate was lying on the floor with Kirk and Spock hovering above her, an almost worried expression playing across both of their faces. It took her a moment to realize how misplaced that expression looked on the features of a Vulcan. But by the time that thought crossed her mind, Spock's face was blank again – a stony mask. She wondered vaguely what was behind that mask. Kirk had then sent her back to the _Enterprise_ to be examined closely by Doctor McCoy.

"So what happened," asked the doctor, his face almost exactly duplicating the expression of concern on Kirk's minutes before. "Jim told me a little bit, but I want to hear it from you."

Cate calmly told him what happened. By his reaction, she figured it must have been pretty much the same as what the Captain had told him. "I feel fine. Really." And in truth, she really didn't feel any different from how she normally felt.

McCoy muttered something about everyone always feeling fine right before something really really bad happened to them. At least, that's kinda what it sounded like. Cate really couldn't be sure past the mumbling. He passed over her twice with his medical scanner. Then looked at the device strangely and did it again.

"What's wrong?" the lieutenant asked curiously.

"Nothing's wrong," he replied. "And that's exactly why I'm confused." He paused dubiously. "I think I'd better keep you here for the night, if that's okay. I'm worried that my scanner's defective."

Cate laughed amusedly. "I really feel fine. But if it'll make you feel better, sir, then I'll stay."

"Good. I'm gonna go talk to Jim. I'll be back soon." Confusion evident on his face, McCoy smiled – kind of – and left the bay in search of his Captain. Maybe he had missed something important.


	9. Repercussions

Aiden sat sullenly in his quarters, brooding. He wasn't really in a good mood – at all – so he'd cancelled all of his afternoon appointments, much to the disappointment of the women he was supposed to be meeting. He didn't really feel up for sex right now. After his fight with Cate, he was more ready to trash his room and break things than anything else. No, definitely not a good day for sex. At least, not with anyone who didn't want to get seriously injured in the act.

The preoccupied commander barely even noticed the knock on his door. Not really caring who it was – and briefly considering attacking the unfortunate person who wanted to visit him – he called to the person to come in. To be honest, he wasn't really surprised to see an amusedly concerned Captain Kirk walk through the doorway.

"That spot on the wall must be incredibly interesting," the smirking captain noted to his disgruntled friend.

All he got in reply was a grunt, so he sat down next to the blue-clad man and relaxed. There was no need for formality here. "You know, you might want to try explaining to Cate what you were doing when she walked in on you."

"I tried. She didn't seem to want to let me talk very much. I can't imagine she'd take the notion of 'lessons' very well anyway, though."

"Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No. I should probably do it."

"So what's the problem?"

The commander paused, thinking hard. "I don't really know. I just don't know what I'm going to say to her. She was pretty upset."

"You seem to be upset too, ya know. I heard you cancelled your appointments for today?"

"I'm not really feeling like teaching today. I don't think I'd be able to focus well enough to give good advice."

Kirk paused, and began staring at the spot on the wall his friend found so interesting. "I've known you for a long time, Aiden. You've taught me everything I know. In fact, you've taught a lot of people everything they know." Another thoughtful pause. "The first thing you taught me when I begged you to tell me how you did it, was not to get attached to a pretty face. There were plenty of pretty faces out there, and getting too caught up on one of them will only take you out of the running for all the others. And with skills like yours, Aiden, it'd almost be a shame."

"It wouldn't be that much of a shame, Jim. You surpassed me a long time ago. You don't really need my help anymore, either." Aiden looked at the wall some more, then switched to a more interesting spot on the floor that he'd just noticed. "I look at the faces of the people in my lectures and wonder what it would be like to be them – to be able to come home every night to someone who loves you and cares about more than just how good you are in bed. I wonder how it feels to just sleep with someone – no sex involved. Just good cuddling with someone who isn't there for someone else."

"You're letting her get to you, Aiden. It'll ruin you. And she's just another pretty face, right? There are more of them out there for you."

"At first she was. But after a while, I found out that she's a real person behind that face – a person that I hurt today. And it bothers me that I hurt her, and I don't know why." Both men studied the floor for a long while. "I think I'm falling for her, Jim. What's more is that I don't know that I want to stop it."

"You'd better go talk to her then." Kirk got up to leave. "You still doing lecture tomorrow?"

"Sure. I think so." Downs looked up at his one-time student and smiled. "Thank s, Jim. You were always a good guy to talk to."

Cate had a headache. She'd woken up with it in the medical bay that morning and had skipped breakfast to get to the Engineering deck early in hopes of actually getting something done. In truth, she'd really only been trying to avoid Downs. She didn't really feel like getting upset that early in a shift. Luckily, Scotty had been waiting for her to show up. Apparently there had been some sort of accident on the last shift and some of the wiring behind one of the panels had been damaged. He'd have asked someone else to do it, but apparently the panel was in a difficult place to get to and required some semblance of skill to work on properly.

And so, Cate found herself hanging upside down from a medium-sized pipe with a screwdriver in her mouth, sorting through and replacing wires and whatnot behind the damaged panel. She was surprised to find that her inverted position actually helped her head to feel better. Her view of the rest of the engineering deck was limited, though, so when the one person in the universe she did not want to talk to rounded the corner and came into sight, she was totally unprepared.

She took the screwdriver out of her mouth as she glared at him from the corner of her eye. "You know, Commander, I'm a little busy right now."

"Cate," Downs said calmly, but gently. "I really need to talk to you."

"Why? Because you think I shouldn't be upset about walking in on your orgy?" She decidedly kept her eyes on the wires she was working on.

"No, because what you walked in on wasn't exactly an orgy, and I feel like I should explain what I was doing a bit better."

"I fail to see how having sex with eight women at one time 'isn't exactly an orgy,' Commander."

"I was… giving a lesson."

"That's a delicate way to put it. You hold your skill in the sack very high, Sir."

The commander sighed heavily and leaned against a bright red pipe. "The women who were with me were married."

"…This doesn't help your case."

"They came to me for help because they don't feel like they're pleasing their husbands well enough in bed. Their husbands know, of course. In fact, I hold a lecture session for them in my lab twice a week."

"… So, I walked in on a class?" The disbelief hung heavily in her voice.

"Yeah, kind of. I let the women experiment with me and figure out how to work out certain positions and movements, and I give them tips on things they should try with their husbands. Most of the time, it only takes one or two practical sessions before they get the hang of it and only come to lectures.'

"So you're the resident sex counselor."

"Essentially."

"And I shouldn't be upset about you sleeping with eight married women because you were doing it for the sole purpose of helping them be better in bed for their husbands?"

"Yes, that's the gist of it."

She looked him in the eye firmly, her blue gaze boring into his brown. "Commander Downs, I have a headache and you are very definitely not helping. You want me to believe that you teach married couples how to have good sex and that you're really only doing it for their benefit and not so that you can get laid regularly." Her voice raised with every sentence. "Well, sir, I am not amused. You can go take your bullshit story someplace else and use it to make some other girl feel better about your sexual exploits." She was really getting pissed. Downs began to get a little bit worried. "I don't want to hear about it anymore. In fact, I don't even know that I want to see you anymore. So if you will please remove yourself –" Downs began to hear a crackling noise in the background even as he watched Cates eyes begin to glow increasingly. " – from the Engineering Deck, I will not have to go through the trouble of removing you myself." Very suddenly, a bolt of electricity arced through the air from the damaged wires to the screwdriver Cate was holding. She was unfortunate enough to be touching the metal part with one of her fingers at the time. The bolt seemed to magnify in size and intensity when it reached her finger, then visibly ran across her body even as the engineer fell into unconsciousness. Downs, seeing her begin to fall, leapt forward to catch her, yelling for help as he went.


	10. Breaking Point

"You idiot!" Spock roared as he stormed into the Medical Bay, face flushed definitively green with an exceptionally uncharacteristic display of fury. Kirk, white faced, followed behind him. The Captain had been observing his friend closely since they'd gotten McCoy's call over the intercom. As they'd made their way down the lift, the Vulcan's control slowly but steadily slipped from his grasp as he became more and more angry over the situation. Kirk was immensely glad he wasn't on the receiving end of the green tide of alien fury. He felt a little bit sorry for Downs, and silently reminded himself not to push Spock's buttons in the future – much as he knew he'd forget at a later date.

All faces – except one – turned towards the open doorway in alarm and utter shock as Spock's outburst rang through the air. Commander Downs stood up quickly from his place at the bedside. He looked like he was on the verge of bolting. The air literally crackled with energy.

"Huh?" As terrified as he must have been, Downs decided it was worth it to stand his ground for the time being. He just couldn't think of anything really to say.

"You fucking idiot!" Profanity and anger. Kirk decided he might want to remember about the not poking Spock's buttons thing after all. "What have you done?"

"We're trying to figure that out, actually. And I really didn't do anything but try to –"

"Try to what? Talk to her? Apologize? She told you she didn't want to even see you again!"

"Yes, but –"

"But what? Do you have any idea what you could have done?"

The Commander's face instantly went stony. He'd finished trying to explain himself. "No, but neither do you, Commander Spock. I strongly suggest you take a seat before you hurt yourself – or, more likely, someone else decides to hurt you. From what I saw on the Engineering Deck a few minutes, Lieutenant Johnson would have little trouble frying all of us to a crisp – even in her present condition.

Spock slowly took note of small sparks beginning to form in the air above the unconscious form of the Lieutenant. He withdrew his emotions back into himself – although his face remained set in that uncharacteristic scowl.

Kirk silently noted to himself that Downs might deserve a bit of credit for not pissing himself in front of that stony glare. The Captain waited a few moments to let Spock cool down ever so slightly before drawing himself up to his full height. "Bones." All attention in the room turned to the doctor. "If you wouldn't mind explaining to the rest of us what the hell happened?"

McCoy's usual scowl had been usurped by a growing expression of utter confusion. "Hell if I know, Jim. All my instruments say she's perfectly fine, and then she just about electrocutes herself. And all the computers still say she's absolutely normal. My best guess is it had something to do with what happened on the away mission."

"What happened on the away mission?" Downs's face betrayed his complete cluelessness on the situation.

"Cate had a weird encounter with some sort of glowy ghost thing." Kirk wasn't particularly interested in giving details right then. There was a more important problem to be solved. His gaze switched back to the doctor. "So there was a delayed effect?"

"That's my best guess. But it's still only a _guess_. I can't seem to get any evidence other than the obvious that there's anything different about her."

"The obvious bein'?" Scotty's green gaze was fraught with suppressed worry.

"She's unconscious, her eyes glow when they're open, and she's shooting lightning bolts out of her body," Downs stated, his flat brown eyes never leaving the oddly still face of the woman in the bed beside him.

"It's the glowin' eyes and the lightnin' that seems to be the problem."

They all ignored the obviousness of the head engineer's comment. None of them had anything better to say. Finally, after a long silence, the resident biomedical engineer gave a heavy sigh as he sat down and rested his head in his hands. The air above Cate seemed to have finally settled.

"I don't think there's anything more we can do right now, Jim. We're just going to have to wait and see for a little while. Downs and I will try to find out more if we can…"

Kirk was beginning to feel more of the pressure of command. He hoped to whatever God was listening that this young engineer wouldn't be the first one to die on this mission. "Whatever you say, Bones. Spock, Scotty. It's time to go. Cate's in good hands here."

Scotty rose without a word and trudged out the door. Spock seemed significantly more reluctant to leave.

"I'm sorry for whatever my part in this is, Spock. You have my word that I'll do my best to make it right. This is more than my job right now. I… She means a lot to me, too."

Kirk thought that was probably the most sincere speech Aiden had ever made. As much as the captain may have joked about the man's budding affections for a single woman, he admitted that Cate had had a large impact on all of them since they'd left port. She was so much more than just a pretty face – and Kirk was glad to know that Downs would give more than his best effort to bring her back to them.

Jim followed the Vulcan, who was once again the vision of apathy and control, out into the rest of the ship and back to the bridge – trying to put her face out of his mind.

Cate vaguely became aware that she was in pain, and that it didn't matter. The struggle within herself was too all consuming for her to be focused on the minor inconvenience of physical agony. The Power wanted to take over – wanted to be in control of what was going on. But it was her body, and she wasn't about to give it up without a fight. In fact, she wasn't about to give it up at all. Failure simply wasn't an option she was going to give thought to. The Power had come to _her_. She was going to command it, or it could decide to leave. At the moment, she didn't particularly care which.

It felt almost like she was bursting at the seams – like her little body couldn't hope to hold what was now contained within her. Someone was shouting close to her, and she felt the Power bristle in excitement at the energy in the room that seemed so terribly far away. She could feel its blind need to explode in the air, giving violent action to that furious energy that was not her own. She struggled with all her might to control it. When the energy finally left, she felt the Power's disappointment, as she was sure that it felt her relief. For a moment, she had a brief reprieve as a strong sense of regret hung in the air around her. The emotion was puzzled by the sudden shift and retreated for what seemed like barely a moment before the struggle began anew.

Downs bent down to kiss the still forehead of the red clad Lieutenant. "I'm so sorry, Cate," he whispered. He couldn't find the voice to say any more, and he wondered if she could even hear him.


End file.
